My interest in the McIntyre's family history, "McIntyre Family Tree", is a rather recent phenomenon. My eldest son, John Mark,
was the first to delve into our background after reading the "Old Letters" that we inherited from my father, Milton Fairly McIntyre. Mark did quite
a bit of research during the years prior to his marriage, at that time there was an understandable realignment of his interest and responsibilities (making us three wonderful
grandchildren being primary in my opinion.) But prior to that, he drew, by hand, a quite impressive family tree on two 11" X 17" sheets of paper. This became the basis of my
research.
There is an old story that has been told within the McIntyre family that went like this: "when the family 'came over' from Scotland and landed in the
States, they made a pact that they would scatter across this new country in search of the best place to make a living. They would keep in touch and the family would reunite in that best
of locations; however, most of them remained where they were long enough to put down roots and were then reluctant to leave." Now, I don't know if this story is true, but it does have a
certain "Scottish" ring to it.
Of the four brothers who we believe "came over," John, Archie D., Daniel, and Duncan, I have only been able to trace two - my great-great grandfather
Duncan McIntyre and My great-great grandfather John McIntyre. Yes, both of these brothers were my great-great grandfathers. You see, my grandfather and my grandmother were 2nd cousins,
which has led my family research in circles . . . so to speak. The information I have on Duncan is the date of his death, 21 Nov 1830; therefore, we refer to him as 1830 Duncan. 1830
Duncan married Catherine Colquhoun (Pronounced Calhoun). Catherine had several siblings, one of whom, Nancy
Colquhoun, married Daniel McLaurin, in 1799. Hence our connection, or at least one of our connections with the McLaurins.
1830 Duncan and Catherine had four children: Duncan Colquhoun McIntyre, Dr. John Colquhoun McIntyre, Margaret Colquhoun McIntyre, and Daniel Colquhoun
McIntyre, one of my great grandfathers. One of the missing pieces of the family puzzle is Duncan Colquhoun McIntyre's wife(?). I have absolutely nothing on her.
John McIntyre 1767/1854 married Mary Carmichael 1790/1835 in Richmond, NC during 1809. They had 9 children; Nancy 1812/1859, Katherine 1814/1848, Daniel
1816/1900, John 1820/1885, Mary 1822/1859, Sarah 1824/1892, Lily 1826/1857, Archibald 1829/1859, and Margaret 1860/?. John, my other great grandfather, married Sally McDonald.
On 19 Dec 1844 Daniel married Margaret Jane Malloy. Margaret was the widow of August Malloy. Her maiden name was Adams. The marriage took place in South
Carolina. Daniel and Margaret had six children that we are aware of: Hugh McIntyre, Duncan "DD" McIntyre, Harriet McIntyre, Robert Dickson McIntyre, and my grandmother/cousin Margaret
Isabelle McIntyre. Often referred to as "Miss. Belle" in the Old Letters. With so many names repeated so many times, it gets very confusing. That is one of the reasons we're still not
sure who wrote some of the letters.
1830 Duncan's wife Catherine Colquhoun and son Daniel Colquhoun McIntyre, his wife Margaret Jane Adams/Malloy and children moved to Brazil. This occurred
shortly after the disastrous outcome of the Civil War and the infestation of the south by carpetbaggers. First indication of their presence in Brazil is a letter written in 1869 (Old
Letters), but we believe they were there closer to 1867. The telegram of 1867 was sent in care of W.A. Gunter, but delivered in the States. They were part of Col. W.A. Gunter's
expedition. Gunter, in cooperation with the Brazilian government, started a colony of disgruntled southerners in Campinas, Brazil. Catherine, 1830 Duncan's wife, and her sons, Daniel
Colquhoun McIntyre and Robert D. died and were buried near Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Daniel was injured during the construction of (according to family legend) Brazil's first sugar mill.
A beam fell on him and he died several days thereafter. Five years after her husband's death Margaret Jane and her daughter Margaret Isabelle McIntyre returned to the States. They
returned to Laurinburg, NC and seven years after their return Margaret Isabelle married Duncan Thomas McIntyre, her second cousin . . . and thus became my grandparents. They eventually
moved to Port Gibson, MS and ended up in Martin, Claiborne Co., MS, but I'm still not sure of their exact route or time table. My father Milton F. McIntyre was born during their stay in
Port Gibson.
As I said before, my father was one of nine children and repeatedly married my mother Mary Virginia McDonald and I being the result of the third and final marriage. You would think that with so many honeymoons
I would have had the pleasure of a great number of siblings, but alas, I was an only child. My wife, Mary Linda Remore, and I had three children, we now have two (we lost David, our
youngest, in 1999.) We also have seven grandchildren who are the sweetest, smartest, most wonderful . . . well you get the idea. Of these seven only one is male, so I can only hope that
he is prolific or our twig on the family tree may come to an abrupt end. This may sound rather chauvinistic but don't get me wrong, there is nothing more wonderful than granddaughters.
I tell everyone, that will listen, that God gives us grandchildren as a preview of Heaven.
I'm placing these pages on the Web for two reasons. Naturally, one is in hope of getting feedback from visitors with information that will help me fill in
some of the holes. The other is to share my information. I have received inquiries from many people wondering if my McIntyre line joins theirs. They usually have a McIntyre in their
tree who's name matches one of ours, often it's a Duncan. Understandably there is a preponderance of Duncan McIntyres, named after our first Clan chief of record in the early 1600's,
and later our famous bard, "Fair Duncan of the Song." So hopefully these pages will help other genealogical sleuths trace their lost kin.
Good luck to my many cousins, either real or imagined for in God's eyes we are all brothers and sisters and come from but a single root.
Per Ardua,
John Duncan McIntyre